Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-07-17
A VOUDOO DANCE.
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF A WEIRD SOUTH
RRN SCENE.
Inftaaton Of the Pretty American Girl with the
VOQtU Dccsm-Wld Chanting, Barbaons
Dance and Fiery IncantatOns.
chnr,l, pudleu unru : ID Harpa,s Weehy

There was nothing mysterious about II.
The ceremony took place in broad day, at
noon, in the upper chambers of a small
frame house in a street just beyond Congo
square and the old parish prison in New
Orleans. 1t was an incarnation rather than
a dance-a curious mingling Of African
youdoo rites with modern ''spiritualism"
and faith cure.
The explanation of voudooism Tor vau-
douism) would require a chapter by itself.
1t is sufficient to say for the purpose OF this
paper that the barbaric rites of youdooism
originated with the Congo and Guinea
negroes, We're brought to San Domingo
and then to Louisiana. In Hayti the sect
is in full vigor, and its midnight orgies
have reverted more and more 10 the bar
barrie original in the last twenty-five years.
The wild dance and incantations are
accompanied by the sacrifice Of animals
and occasionally Of infants, and with can
nlIAllfIl, auu slCuN'
license. In its origin it is serpent worship.
The voudoO signifies q being a~li-poweriui
on earth, who is, or is represented by a
harmless species of serpent ~(couleuvrel,
and in this belief the sect performs rites IN
which the serpent is propitiated. In COM
mon p~arlance the chief actor Is called the
voudoo-if a man the youdOO king, II a
woman the youdoo queen. Some years ago
Congo square was the scene OF the weird
midnight rites of this sect, as unrestralned
and barbarous as ever took place IN the
Corgo country. All these semi-pnbhc per
formances have been suppressed, and all
private assemblies for this worship are
illegal and broken mp by the police when
discovered. 1t is said in New Orleans
that youdoOism is a thing OF the
past. But the superstition remains,
believe that very few OF the coloI,d people
in New Orleans are free from it-that IL,
free from it rs n superstition. Those who
repudiate it, have nothing TO do with 1t,
aud regard it rs only evil, still ascrlbe
power to the voudoO, to some ugly old
womon or man, who is popularity believed
to have occult power las the Italians he
lieve in the "evil-eye'), can east IA charm
and put the victims under 4 spell, or ny
iucantatiOns relieve them from 1t. The
power of the voudoo is still feared by many
many who are too intelligent TO believe in
it intellectually. That persons are still
youdooed, probably few doubt; and that
people are injured by charms secretly
placed in their beds, or are bewitched IN
various ways, is COMMON belief-more
common than the Saxon notion that 1t Is
i'll luck to see the new moon over the lett
shoulder.
Although very few white people in New
Orleans have ever seen the performance !
shall try to describe, and il is said that the
police would break it up if they knew OF it,
il takes place every Wednesday Mt noon ut
the house where | saw il, and there are
three or four other places in the city where
the rites are celebrated, sometimes at night.
Our admission was procured through =
friend, who had, | suppose, rouched Tor
our good intentions.
We were received in the living-roOms Of
the house on the ground floor, by the doc
tor" q good looking mulattO Of middle
aye, clad in q white shirt with gold studs.
linen pantSloons and list slippers. lie had
the simple minded shrewd look Of heal
ing medium" The interior was neat,
though in some confusion; among the rude
attempts ut art on the walls was the worst
chrome print of General Grant that WAS
probably ever made. There were several
negroes about the door, many in the rooms
and in the back yard, and all had an air Of
expectation and wild excitement. After
We had satisfied the scruples of the doctor
and signed our names in the register, we
were invited To ascend by a narrow, crook
ed stairway in the rear. This led to a
small landing where n dozen people might
stand, and from this u door opened into a
chamber perhaps l5xlO feet, where the
rites were TO take place; beyond this was
4 small bedroom. Around the sides Of
these rooms were the benches and chairs,
and the close quarters were already well
filled.
The assembly was perfectly orderly, but
a motley one, and the women largely ont
numbered the men. There were coal black
negroes. pOrters and steyedores, fat cooks,
slender chambermaids, all shades Of com
p~lexiou, yellow girls and comely quad.
rooms, most of them in common servant
attire, but some neatly dressed. Among
them were, to my surprise. several white
people.
On one side of the middle room where
we sat was constructed a sort Of buffet or
bureau, used ~ an altar. On il stood an
image of the Virgin Mary in painted plas,
ter, about two feet high, flanked by light
ed candles and a couple of cruets, with
some other small objects. On q shelf be,
low were two other candles, aud on this
shelf and the floor in front were various
offerings TO he used in r~ites-plates of ap,
piles, grapes, bananas, oranges, dishes Of
sugar, OF sugar plums, a dish Of powdered
orris root, packages of candies, bottles OF
brandy and Of water. Two other lighted
candles stood Oh the floor, and in front al
earthen bowl. The clear space in front for
the dancer was not more thar fouT or five
feet square. =.
Some time was consumed in prepare.
tons, or in waiting for the wOrshippers to
assemble. From conversation with those
near Inc, ] found that the doctor had a
reputation Tor healing the diseased by vir.
tue " uS inC2tlthtiOur, Vi IculuNlub
"swells," of finding lost articles, Of minis.
tering TO the troubles Of lovers, and, in
short, of doing very much what clairvoy-
ants and healing mediums claim TO do in
what are called civilized communities.
But failing TO get a very intelligent az
count OF the expected performance from
the negro woman next me, | moved to the
side of the altar and took a chair next a girl
ofperhaps twenty years old, whose complex
ion and features gave evidence that she
was white. Still finding her in that com.
pany, and there as a participant in the
voudOo rites, | concluded that | must HI
mistaken, and that she must have col0red
blood in her veins. Assuming the priv
lege Of Al inquirer, | asked her questions
about the coming performance, and in
doing so carried the impression that she
was a kin TO the colOred race. But | wa,
soon CONVINCED, from her manner and heI
replies, that she was pure white. She wa.
q pretty modest girl, very reticept, we'll
bred, polite and civil. None of the colored
people seemed to know who she was bul
she said she had been there before. She
told me, in course Of the conversation, the
name of the street where che lived fir